Liam Hemsworth Interview For ‘The Expendables 2′

Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews) — with newest members Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) and Maggie (Yu Nan) aboard — are reunited when Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) enlists the Expendables to take on a seemingly simple job. The task looks like an easy pay check for Barney and his band of old-school mercenaries. But when things go wrong and one of their own is viciously killed, the Expendables are compelled to seek revenge in hostile territory where the odds are stacked against them. Hell-bent on payback, the crew cuts a swath of destruction through opposing forces, wreaking havoc and shutting down an unexpected threat in the nick of time — five tons of weapons-grade plutonium, far more than enough to change the balance of power in the world. But that’s nothing compared to the justice they serve against the villainous adversary who savagely murdered their brother. ‘The Expendables 2′ arrives in cinemas August 17th.

In ‘The Expendables 2’ you play a new member to “The Expendables” team, Billy the Kid. Can you tell us about Billy when we meet him in the film?

Liam Hemsworth: Sure. Billy the Kid, he’s the new young gun “Expendable” in the group. He’s been trained as a sniper, he’s been in the army for three years. When we meet him in the film he’s just left the army, and “The Expendables” were looking for a new person for the group and he got the job. He’s a good kid, he’s a really good sniper. I’ve got a security guard friend who’s an ex-sniper, so I asked him a lot of questions about his missions, what he had been on, what it was like, what we wears, just the frame of mind and those kinds of things. That was kind of my research I guess, it was more about being really healthy and fit. I was running a lot, keeping it really militant I guess (laughs).

Billy the Kid has a great dynamic with Sylvester Stallone’s Barney Ross. Billy sort of sees Barney as a mentor and Barney really admires Billy because of his talent and his positive outlook…..

Liam Hemsworth: Definitely, Sylvester Stallone’s character Barnie Ross and Bill the Kid are similar, they’re both good guys who want to take down bad guys. They feel like they’re the best people to do it if someone’s going to do it, you know? Barney Ross is sort of like a father figure to Billy the Kid, he sees Billy as the new generation that he’s got to look after and train, they have a great affection for each other.They’re different because Billy basically comes to the realisation that he doesn’t want to do this for the rest of his life. It’s not that he doesn’t want to end up like these guys in “The Expendables”, I think he wants to have a real life, spend time with his girlfriend. And I think Barney understands that, he sees a guy full of hope and aspiration.

What was it like working with this cast stacked full of action-movie heroes, in the likes of Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Dolph Lundgren, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jet Li, and Jean-Claude Van Damme, who plays this menacing villain?

Liam Hemsworth: Jean-Claude Van Damme, he looks evil in the film, so menacing. I shot for a couple days with him and he’s a scary looking guy (laughs). I got kicked by him on one take when he wasn’t supposed to kick me (laughs), but I think that was more of a gift from him – it’s one of the most famous kicks you’ll ever get (laughs). It was a present from him, in a weird way. I was honoured to be kicked by him. Its been pretty incredible working with all of these guys, I watched all of their movies when I was a kid: Sylvester Stallone’s movies, ‘Rocky’ and Rambo,’ the ‘Terminator’ movies, ‘Die Hard‘ and Bruce Willis‘ movies, Van-Dammes’ movies. It’s pretty weird to be on a set with all of them at once, hanging out and chatting like your chatting to anybody. But it’s awesome, they’re honestly just the nicest guys. There wasn’t the testosterone or ego you might expect on a set like that. Everyone was so cool and professional.

Look out for a more in-depth interview with Liam Hemsworth for ‘The Expendables 2’ closer to the films release date.